Capsule

Helge Tscharn

$115

Hardback

Forthcoming
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DruckVerlag Kettler
01 August 2025

Individual photographers; Social groups

In 1981-just three years after Titus Dittmann had imported the first skateboards from the USA-Helge Tscharn began to photographically document the dawn of German skateboarding history. Tscharn captured every phase of German skateboarding with his signature style: the raw beginnings of the 1980s, heavily influenced by the punk rock movement, were immortalised in grainy black-and-white shots. By contrast, hip-hop and 90s street-wear burst forth in candy-coloured hues. Over the course of his career, he not only witnessed talent come and go, but also the rise of the stars of the skateboarding world-and often their tragic downfall. Tscharn was accompanying the indie and emo wave of the 2000s, the DIY culture of the 2010s, and of course, the present, which embraces and reinterprets all these influences. His photos, spanning over 40 years, appear like time capsules with an unmistakable feel for the moment.

Text in English and German.

AUTHOR: Helge Tscharn has been documenting the German-European skateboard scene since the early eighties. The subjects could not be more different. Here the skateboarders and their world, there musicians, not on stage, but mostly before and after their performances. Speed and dynamism here, calm or tension there. For Helge Tscharn, this is not a contradiction, he is a skateboard and music photographer. While he has been documenting the German-European skateboard scene since the early eighties and thus showing even the uninitiated why these boards of all things mean the world, he also increasingly turned to music photography in the nineties: superficially pure portraits, they convey at second glance that pop music is a 24-hour event for everyone directly involved.

SELLING POINTS: .

In 1981 Helge Tscharn began to photographically document the dawn of German skateboarding history .

Tscharn captured every phase of German skateboarding with his signature style .

Over the course of his career, he not only witnessed talent come and go, but also the rise of the stars of the skateboarding world-and often their tragic downfall .

His photos, spanning over 40 years, appear like time capsules with an unmistakable feel for the moment .

With portraits of: Lance Mountain, Jim Greco, Sonic Youth, Pantera, Motorhead, Marc Gonzales, Tom Penny, Prodigy, Aphex Twin and others

186 colour, 87 b/w illustrations

By: Helge Tscharn
Imprint: DruckVerlag Kettler
Country of Publication: Germany
Dimensions: Height: 300mm, Width: 240mm,
ISBN: 9783987412066
ISBN 10: 3987412062
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 01 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Helge Tscharn has been documenting the German-European skateboard scene since the early eighties. The subjects could not be more different. Here the skateboarders and their world, there musicians, not on stage, but mostly before and after their performances. Speed and dynamism here, calm or tension there. For Helge Tscharn, this is not a contradiction, he is a skateboard and music photographer. While he has been documenting the German-European skateboard scene since the early eighties and thus showing even the uninitiated why these boards of all things mean the world, he also increasingly turned to music photography in the nineties: superficially pure portraits, they convey at second glance that pop music is a 24-hour event for everyone directly involved.